Philip
L. Rhodes, born in 1895, was a prolific and versatile boat designer,
whose career spanned more than five decades from 1919 until his death in
1974. His range of design was amazing, from 123' motorsailers
to 7' dinghies, from hydrofoil racers to giant motor yachts. His
clients ranged from Rockefellers to Sears and Roebuck. His 12 Meter
Weatherly
won the America's Cup in 1962. And, in addition, he designed a wide
range of commercial craft.

His
biographer Richard Henderson emphasizes that Rhodes was not only an excellent
engineer but also a true artist. "Whatever kind of vessel he produced,
it invariably had the look of rightness about it. His sailing yachts
in particular, with their beautifully proportioned hulls and graceful sheerlines,
are works of true design harmony. Not only are Rhodes yachts handsome;
they somehow appear to be uniquely suited to their purpose… Phil will be
remembered best for this distinguished thoroughbred yachts. They
are not only superbly functional, but they also have an elegance and ageless
beauty that is all to rare in yacht design today."

Henderson
concludes his book with this generalization: "It is difficult to
pigeonhole Rhodes, because his designs are so varied, but in general his
work in the field of seagoing sailing yachts seems to fall somewhere between
Alden and Stephens. A Rhodes boat might be described as being a bit
heavier, more comfortable, often more graceful, and not quite as racy as
one by Stephens. On the other hand, a Rhodes boat may be thought
of as being lighter, yachtier, more expensively built, and a better all-round
performer than the kind of boat one associates with Alden. Of course,
these are gross generalizations, and there are many individual exceptions."
(Richard Henderson, Philip L. Rhodes and his Yacht Designs.
Camden: International Marine, 1981.)

Philip
Rhodes, on right, makes a point. Photo from family collection of Dan Rhodes
(grandson), with many thanks.

Hull
Forms

This
discussion, drawing on material in Henderson's book, will emphasize his
designs of racing cruising sailboats from roughly the 1930's through the
1960's in the 25-90 foot range. His boats in this range won numerous
ocean races (Bermuda, Trans-Atlantic) and short races and cruised successfully
on lakes, coasts, and oceans. They have high, nicely curved bows,
well defined sheers dropping fairly low in the mid-ships to after
third, and rising gracefully to a buoyant stern. The
profiles of the boats are distinctive and similar enough to be big and
little sister ships. By today's standards, the hulls are relatively
narrow and heavy, resulting in a more comfortable motion in a seaway than
the light, wide, high modern boats. Rhodes' boats have a good
turn of speed, easily reaching their hull speeds with modest breezes.

While
the boats are quite similar in profile, the Rhodes boats are different.
With a great deal of oversimplification, overlooking questions of displacement,
keel shape, and rig, the boats fall into five groups:

1.
Rhodes' basic hull form was remarkably stable from the late 1920's to the
early 1960s. It was a fairly narrow hull, with the lwl roughly 2.7
to 3 times the beam. (The bigger boats in this series generally are
relatively narrower, gaining stability from greater weight.).
The Rhodes 27 designed in 1938 had a beam of 9'8" for a 27 foot
waterline. Caper, one of Rhodes' favorite boats, was only
12' wide for a lwl of 38' (and a loa of 56'). In the smaller size
boats, this hull form is seen in the Ranger and Chesapeake 32.
(green marks on the chart)

2.
Rhodes designed a few boats that were quite a bit narrower, mainly for
inland lake racing, day sailing, and overnight cruising. The Great
Lakes 30 was a little over 29' on the water line but only 7'9" in beam.
The Rhodes 33, developed for Southern California, falls in this
group. (red marks on the chart)

3.
Rhodes also designed a series of centerboarders with somewhat more beam
than his standard hull form. Generally the lwl was 2.5 to 2.8
times the beam. This model was well defined with Ayesha (1932)
and refined in Alondra (1936). The model had enough
of a keel for ocean-going stability, but still were shoal draft boats.
Alondra
played a key role in popularizing the keel-centerboard concept in a strange
way. Alondra was purchased by Carleton Mitchell in 1947 and renamed
Caribbee.
She was raced very successfully and cruised extensively. For a variety
of reasons, more related to racing and rigging than hull form, Mitchell
went to Sparkman and Stephens for his next boat, Finisterre. Olin
Stephens based Finisterre's centerboard hull very much on the Rhodes
Alondra
model that had so satisfied Mitchell.

Rhodes
developed the centerboard in a full range of sizes. Perhaps the most
famous in this series was Carina II, with a waterline of 36'3",
2.79 times its 13' beam. A smaller version of Carina II was
Design No. 618, with a water line of 32' and beam of 11'9', for a
ratio of 2.72. Several boats were built to this design.
Rhodes carried this theme to Erewhon, with a 29' waterline and 11'3"
beam. In fiberglass, the Swiftsure was an even smaller version
of the Rhodes centerboarder concept. Swiftsure had a waterline
of 22'11" and a beam of 10'. These beamier boats were not fat.
On a 29 foot water line, Rhodes gave the narrow version (Altair)
a 10'6" beam; the centerboarder (Erewhon) had a beam of 11'3", just
9 inches more. (purple marks on the chart)

4.
Over the years and decades, Rhodes seemed to give boats slightly more beam,
an inch or two here or there. By the 1960's, he had a boat that might
be considered a new design. It was noticeably beamier than his earlier
models, but not quite as beamy as the centerboarders. The Rhodes
Reliant,
designed in 1963, defined this new, "medium" model.
The gradual increase in the beam for the Reliant can be seen in
his evolution of the 28' waterline. In the 1930s, Rhodes gave
a 28' waterline boat a 9'8" beam on Surf Bird and a 9'10"
beam on a Rhodes Cutter; Bounty II had a beam of 10'3" (in
1956); Copacetic in 1962 had 10'6" beam. The Reliant, in 1963,
had a 10'9" beam. This medium hull form also was evident in the smaller
Vanguard.
(blue marks on the chart)

5.
Another, quite different design breakthrough of Rhodes was the large, full
powered, cruising, centerboard ketch, made of steel. These vessels
are in the 60' to 100' range. Drawing only 5 to 6 1/2 feet, they
can get into shallow habors but are secure in ocean passages. Needless
to say, they have very comfortable accomodations. The first of these
boats was Tamaris (1937). After the War Rhodes designed a 77 footer,
and then both smaller and larger vessels of this concept, some with twin
screws. In the "Classic Resotrations" portion of this website, this design
is illustrated by:

While
the large ocean racers and huge cruising boats captured headlines, Rhodes
designed several small day sailers, which have captured thousands of sailors
for generations. The 11 1/2' Penguin, designed in 1933, remains a
vigorous class today. Close to 10,000 have been built. He also designed
the Wood Pussy and the Rhodes 18, one of the first fiberglass boats.
Perhaps the most popular was the Rhodes 19, designed in 1945, with either
a centerboard or fin keel. About 3,200 have been built, and they
are actively raced in 16 fleets around the United States. The Rhodes
22 trailorable cruiser doesn't look like a classic Rhodes boat; it has
some inspiration from the flared-bow 505.

He
also designed light displacement fin keel sailboats, very large cruising
ketches, motorsailers, medium and high speed motorboats, racing hydrofoils,
etc.

Interiors

Over
the years, Rhodes experimented with the interiors of his sailboat designs.
Often the galley was forward, sometimes aft. Likewise, the head,
sometimes forward, sometimes aft. On some boats both head and galley
are amidships.

One
of his persistent themes was to have an aft cabin, with quarter-berths.
These were comfortable sea berths and didn't take too much space under
the cabin top. To provide privacy, the companionway was forward a
bit, on the cabin top, or as in the Rhodes Reliant, on a deck passageway
to a somewhat forward companionway. This aft cabin idea shows up in Copperhead,
Kirawan,
and later in the Reliant and Thunderhead, among many others.

Many
of his boats had what became a "conventional" interior, with galley and
nav station aft, a commodious main cabin, usually including pilot berths,
head and hanging lockers forward, and a forward cabin with Vee berths forward
of that.

One
peculiarity of Rhodes designs is that exceedingly few has a double bed!
No matter how large and elegant the cabins, even if they were double cabins,
they had two (distantly) separated beds, and not very wide at that.
On the boats in the 70 to 100+ foot range, there is room for a bath tub
in the owner's cabin and two narrow bunks almost 20 feet apart! On
Copperhead,
he came close to having a near double bed, but deliberately made it narrower
and put in a "stowage bin" instead. Obviously the constraint was
not space. According to Charles Jannace, the reason for no double
beds was simple: clients didn't ask for them. In those days, among
his clients, a yacht seems to have been more for racing and adventure at
sea. It wasn't the place for family togetherness or sexual exploits.
Rhodes designed boats for sailing, with narrow, secure beds at sea.
His clients had other places for their families and rendezvous.

Rhodes
did put in a double bed in a few boats as part of a distinctive interior,
with a linear galley to starboard and a dinette to port in which the table
can drop down and form a double bed. This design first shows up in
Olsching
and some of her sisterships including Piera and Masker
(design 618) built in 1953-56 and later in Firande, 1957 (design
666). This inteior enabled the Reliant, 1963 (design 753), to
have three separate cabins and a double bed. This same idea of dinette
to port and linear galley to starboard is carried into the 45' cruising
ketch Meltemi (designed the year after the Reliant) and the
micro cruiser, the Rhodes 22, which also has a small dinette/double bed
to port and a galley to starboard. Design #618, also, has a double
bed in the tiny fore peak.

The
early Rhodes boats had very simple (and light) mechanical systems.
They used kerosene lamps and rudimentary plumbing. As
the decades went by, all the systems and equipment on the boats became
more elaborate and heavier, but the hull remained rather static, without
additional bouyancy. The boats set deeper and deeper on their
waterlines. Nevertheless, they still sail well.

Fiberglass

Rhodes
played an important role in the transition to fiberglass boats from the
wooden era into the fiberglass era. In the mid 1940s, as Dan Spurr
has chronicled in Heart of Glass, dozens of individual and corporate
boat builders and navies in the United States and Europe were experimenting
with fiberglass. Dinghies, skiffs, and day sailers were successfully
built of the new material. Cape Cod Shipbuilding Company (Warham
MA) started producing the Rhodes 18 in fiberglass in 1948. The next
year, Palmer Scott (New Bedford MA) built the Rhodes designed Wood Pussy
in fiberglass. In 1949, Bill Dyer’s firm commenced fiberglass
production of the 9 foot Dyer Dhow, also a Rhodes design. Rhodes
was not the only designer involved in these early stages of fiberglass
production but he clearly was directly involved at the earliest stages.

Charles
Jannace, who was a draftsman in the Rhodes office in that time period,
recalled that by the eary and mid 1950s, there was already some experience
with fiberglass for larger boats. Jannace's father was building
a 32 foot boat out of fiberglass, catalyzed by sunlight, at that time,
and Rhodes came out to take a look. At that time, the lay-ups were
all based on fiberglass cloth; woven roving wasn't around yet.

In
the mid 1950s, the Coleman Plastics Company in Sausalito CA gauged that
the market was ready for a fiberglass followup to its mass produced wooden
Rhodes Bounty, which it had been building in the 1940s. In 1956,
Rhodes took the Rhodes 29 (waterline), and shrank it a bit to a 28' waterline.
The smaller design might have been called a R28, but instead it was named
the Bounty II (40'10" loa). It was slightly larger than the
original Bounty. The Bounty II would become the first large production
sailboat out of fiberglass.

In
the absence of engineering manuals based on empirical testing of samples,
Rhodes took a simple, conservative approach. Earlier experience made
it clear that fiberglass was stronger than wood. Hence, if they used
roughly the same dimensions for fiberglass as they had used for wood, the
fiberglass structures would certainly be strong enough. And once
a mold had been built, it was not particularly costly to keep adding fiberglass
into the mold to build up the thickness. According to Henderson,
the Coleman company, out on the West Coast, also asked William Garden,
another naval architect, to provide structural details, such as the lay-up
and the tooling, including the deck mold -- sort of getting a "second opinion."

In
point of fact, the hull layup for the Bounty was probably were 3 to 4 times
stronger than necessary. The extra material added to both weight
and cost. It also became apparent that fiberglass was too flexible
for the mast on the Bounty. To make it stiff enough, it ended up
too heavy. That idea was dropped quickly. Whatever the teething
problems, the Bounty II established the viability of fiberglass as a material
for large production sailboats boats. (I remember seeing her
introduced at the New York Boat Show; even the mast was fiberglass.)

The
Coleman company later became Aeromarine Plastics, and then in the 1960s
the molds were bought by Pearson and were used to build the slightly
modified R41. Some unfinished hulls were sold to Palmer Johnson,
so there are also some Palmer Johnson Bounty II, with perhaps a higher
quality finish.

Over
the next four years, the Rhodes office designed five boats for Seafarer
Yachts, which imported boats from Holland. These were the Swiftsure
(33' centerboarder, 1958), a 35' motor sailor (1959), Ranger (28',
1959), Meridian (24', 1961), and a sailing dinghy (7', 1961).
He also designed the Chesapeake 32 (1958, built in Denmark).
In the early 1960s, he designed several fiberglass boats; Vanguard
(33' for Pearson, 1962), Reliant (41' for Cheoy Lee, 1963),
and Tempest and Outlaw (23' and 26' for O'Day - both 1963).
Rhodes tried to give the these early fiberglass boats the appearance of
traditional wood boats. They had wooden toe rails and rail caps,
coamings, and mouldings around the cabin.

After
"over-building" the Bounty, there may have been an over-correction on the
next fiberglass boats, Swiftsure (1958), Chesapeake 32 (1959), and Ranger
(1959). There was some oil canning in heavy seas at the beginning
of the production run, and it was difficult to prevent the hard spots of
the hull, such as the bulkheads and longitudinal stringers from printing
through the hull. It took some experimentation to get the right combination
of hull thickness and internal structural reinforcements. Moreover,
the hulls themselves were flexible and bent a little as the loads on the
headstay increased, resulting in headstay sag. For cruising,
this was not too important, but it did affect racing potential. Builders
did not want to spend the extra money to build into the hull a grid that
could prevent flexing.

The
other problem was that in some cases simply builders did not follow the
designer's specifications and skimped on materials. In one case,
the design called for solid fiberglass under a deck stepped mast.
The builder made a cored structure of a balsa sandwich. When water
penetrated, the balsa deteriorated. In at least once case the mast
came right down through the deck and stopped on the top of the keel.
Luckily, no one was injured.

By
1960, there was more knowledge and less uncertainty about design of fiberglass
hulls. The Gibbs and Cox book Marine Design Manual for Fiberglass
Reinforced Plastics was published, and Rhodes and all other designers
were past the early stages of experimentation.

Generally
speaking, these early fiberglass laminates have held up well and these
old boats can be restored. Of course, even if the basic fiberglass parts
are structurally sound, their gel coat surfaces have degraded and there
are problems with plywood bulkheads, porthole leaks, water penetration
of cored decks, etc. etc. These boats are not only examples of Rhodes'
overall design, but also of his early mastery of the new fiberglass material.

Business

By
the 1950's, Philip Rhodes was was not actually designing, but was overseeing
a large firm which had extensive commerical work as well as yachts. He
was meeting clients and developing contracts for various projects.
In the sailboat portion of the office, James McCurdy, a very talented
designer, served as head of the Yacht Design Section. The actual
designs of boats followed certain formula and guidelines Rhodes had developed
earlier. Much of the basic design work was done by his son Philip
H. ("Bodie") Rhodes (link
to Bodie Rhodes obituary). Detailed layouts and drawings were
done by Al Mason, Charles Jannace, and Dick Davis. Other designers
worked on motor yachts, and commercial and military boats.
In addition, Rhodes' other son Daniel Rhodes did brokerage work in
the office.

How
did Rhodes conduct business and earn a living? In 1956, an Australian
negotiated with Rhodes about building one of his designs. The correspondence
is available and describes some of the business practices of Rhodes.
Typically, at this time (1956) the fees for the naval architect were 10
percent of the completed cost of the boat. A designer would know
this price if he could supervise the construction. The cost of construction
in places outside the USA was less (e.g. Aberking and Rassmussen in Germany),
so Rhodes asked more, 12.5%, of the completed construction cost for
boats built outside the USA. Philip Rhodes didn't know the costs
in Australia, so there were some quotes prepared that must have been sent
to Rhodes. In the end he suggested buying a completed design (#618)
rather than a new commission for a 5% rate of the USA building cost - the
same price to buy these plans in the USA.

Bob
Wallstrom recalls that Rhodes was meticulous in replying to all letters.
He always assumed that any enquirer might eventually become a customer.

The
Reliant
project brought Rhodes some special stress. Cheoy Lee made a knock-off
from the Rhodes design, marketed as the Offshore 40, and refused
to pay design royalties to Rhodes. Rhodes considered suing, but finally
decided that the lawyers would end up with the money, not him. Perhaps
this soured Rhodes on fiberglass mass production; he did not provide any
other designs for fiberglass production classes. Thus the Bounty
II-R41-Reliant were his largest mass produced fiberglass boat.

Rhodes
began to phase out his office in the late 1960s. In 1966, Jim McCurdy
and his son Bodie Rhodes left to set up a their own yacht design company
(McCurdy and Rhodes). Mark Ellis came into the gap and worked
for Philip Rhodes for a year. McCurdy and Rhodes, among other things,
continued the Rhodes design work for Seafarer Yachts. Jim McCurdy
died in 1996, and Bodie Rhodes died in 1998. Jim's son Ian McCurdy
continues the family tradition of superb boat design. (Link
here to McCurdy
and Rhodes Naval Architects)(Link
to Facebook page for Seafarer Yachts -- http://www.facebook.com/groups/seafareryachts/
)

After
50 years of work, Rhodes penned no more sailing yachts after 1970.
He did retain his office, stationary, a small staff and some commercial
work. In his correspondence with an owner in late September, 1973,
he was gracious and attentive. He wrote, "I would like to know
where you are going to keep the boat and whether or not you are going to
retain the name. I try awfully hard to keep in touch with my owners.
There are a few more weekends left this season and I hope you will be able
to take advantage of them." When the owners replied to him, Rhodes
wrote, "I cannot remember ever receiving a more pleasant, enjoyable and
informative and welcome letter as yours of October 4. You certainly
brought me up-to-date on a great many things that are always of interest
to a designer who wants to know who is sailing his boats, and far more
of the owner's background than one usually gets... I hope that you achieve
those plans and eventually take that trip around the world. One of our
boats of the same waterline length is now being prepared for such a
trip and I know that she will be a very good boat for it. We have
had several larger boats make the voyage and it must be a great experience....It
has been a pleasure ot write you this letter and to tell you about the
good ship but I want to conclude by telling you once again how much I appreciate
all the nice things you had to say about her. Anytime I can be of
help, please let me know." Interspersed between these gracious
words were suggestions on controlling rust, minimizing electrolysis, trim
and ballast, coupled with a detailed explanation of the relationship between
length and displacement.

While
this review has emphasized Rhodes' racing/cruising sailboats, his design
firm had a great deal of commercial and naval business as well. According
to Henderson, during World War II, he had responsibilities for Navy auxiliaries,
patrol craft, minelayers and sweepers, resesarch vessels, school ships,
salvage vessels, tugs, barges, and subchasers. He supervised conversion
of large liners into troopships and worked on hospital ships. Later
he worked on a large line of cargo vessels, fire boats, dredges,
steam turbo-propelled patrool boats for the Yangtze River. The Yangtze
River patrol boats had stainless steel bottoms because the Yangze River
is so filled with silt (it is also called the Yellow River) that it was
abrasive on boats' bottoms.

The
Rhodes office took on a major project to design minesweepers during the
Korean War, in anticipation of Cold War needs. The boats, 172
feet long, were built of wood, so they would not trigger magnetic
mines. Designing and building a wooden boat of this size represented
a major challenge for the Navy. Rhodes got the contract, presumably
because of his extensive experience with wooden design and construction.

Rhodes
designed 12 different classes of minesweepers, with slighly different dimensions,
from the 1950's well into the 1960s. Altogether, 101 vessels were built
for the U.S. Navy as well as for six NATO allies. Many were built
at the Luders yard in Stamford CT. (The Rhodes designed America's
Cup contender and winner Weatherly was also built by Luders.)
The wooden minesweepers were considered very successful by the navy.
They played a significant role in the Vietnam war as well as the first
Persian Gulf war (1991). They were retired in the late 1990sprofile
planmore
infoanother
source

Click on photo to enlarge

Some
portion of the Rhodes firm's income came from contracts with the City of
New York to design police boats, garbage and sewage barges, etc.

One
employed recalled walking with Rhodes along Manhattan's river front.
As he saw one of his sewage barges being towed to sea, he said, "Some people
think that's a load of shit, but to me it is bread and butter."

Rhodes
donated his yacht design archives to Ship Plans Collection at the Mystic
(CT) Seaport Museumhttp://www.mysticseaport.org/library/collections/ships.cfm
and are available inexpensively plus shipping and handling.

Much
information about Rhodes' designs is available in Richard Henderson's book
Philip
L. Rhodes and his Yacht Designs, Camden: International Marine Publishing
Co, 1981, with additional printings by International Marine/McGraw Hill
in 1993. This book is now out of print and hard to locate.
The simple way to get it is to ask a library to order it from inter-library
loan. Occasionally, it shows up in the used book market. I
got a used copy from the SeaOcean Book Berth in Seattle, seaoceanbooks"at"seanet.com.

Prices
of Boats

Sometimes
people shopping for boats ask me for comments on reasonable prices.
I am not a broker or surveyor and I am not able to offer any advice along
these lines. Especially for the classic wooden boats, reasonable
prices are affected by the condition of the boat, and this requires a very
detailed survey.